Episodes from Hogwarts
by Ervinai
Summary: Little scenes and ficlets from Hogwarts during the time of the Marauders.
1. Moony sleeps

_Episodes from Hogwarts_

_Involving Black, Pettigrew, Potter and Moons. (Better known as the Marauders.) And occasionally Louisa. She likes to be involved. She's a sort of RP character/muse/voice in my head. She's useful. But if she's a Mary-Sue do tell and I'll deal with her._

_OK. Onwards._

* * *

Moony was sleeping. His right arm cradled a book, the tip of spine of which seemed to be digging painfully into skin above his elbow. He was obviously far too deep in sleep to notice. His left arm served as a pillow and the hand curled round to meet the back of his skull, fingertips slipping just beneath the hair.

Sirius wondered if there was anything he should do. If it was James, he would have made an effort to wake the sleeping boy, but he decided that Remus needed his sleep. From the look of the papers strewn across the bed and floor, he had been working hard and deserved some rest.

As he watched, Remus's left hand unfurled and his arm sprung out across the bedside table, landing with a thump on the large pile of books there. Sirius smiled. Moony shifted in his sleep and pulled the book closer to him. He turned his face upwards slightly and almost smiled. Sirius suppressed a laugh as best he could. Then he left the dormitory.

* * *


	2. Potions Homework

* * *

"So, you want to help me with that Potions homework?"

"No! Write your essays yourself."

He leaned across the table and smiled the most charming smile he could manage. "Oh, come on, Louisa," he pleaded.

The girl shook her head. "No," she said simply and went back to her book.

Sirius gave up and leaned back in his chair. "You're always reading. Anyone would think you found History of Magic interesting."

Louisa looked up. "I do, actually." She gave him a lopsided smile and turned her attention back to the passage she was reading.

Sirius scoffed. "You really _are_ boring, Brown. You know, not even Moony finds History of Magic interesting. And that's Moony I'm talking about! Remus is always working."

"And why is that a bad thing?" the young, brown-haired man said, taking the seat beside Louisa and smiling. "At least I'm not always in detention. Unlike some..."

"Huh! Well at least _I_ have some fun." A look of realisation flitted across Black's face and he turned his attention to Remus, smiling once more.

"You fancy giving me a hand with that essay on...rats' spleen or whatever it was?"

Lupin laughed. "No, I don't! And it might be a good idea to find out what the essay's actually about before you start writing it."

Sirius sighed. "You two are as bad as each other," he mock-despaired. "Always together, never willing to lend a hand to poor, old me. When I fail my exams, it'll all be on your heads. Just remember that!"

Louisa and Remus laughed. Lupin reached over and placed a comforting hand on Black's shoulder. "It's okay, Padfoot," he said. "When you fail your exams and can't get a job, I'll let you live with me. You can have the attic."

Sirius pulled his arm away. "Oh, very funny, Moony, very witty." He shot an annoyed look at his friends and reached into his bag for his book and spare parchment. "I'd better get started then," he said, flourishing his quill. "I couldn't stand living with you, Moony, it'd drive me insane!"

* * *


	3. Meetings

_26th December, 2004. OK, so I saw Philsopher's Stone on TV last night and suddenly thought of the Hogwarts' Express. Hence this and the next one. How's the style? Does it work?_

* * *

Remus trekked through the Hogwarts Express, from carriage to carriage. He was nervous and his eyes were flicking around him as he walked. His luggage was safely stowed and he carried a small satchel containing only a book and some money to last him for the first term. He found a small compartment near the front of the train and curled up in a corner, looking out of the window as the view blurred past.

---

James Potter stumbled along the train. He had boarded at the back but had found all the carriages full of people much older than himself. Although not one to appear shy, James most definetely was, especially on this, his first day at school. He had changed into his robes and now all he wanted was a seat.

---

Remus was shaken out of his daydream by the swish of the compartment door opening. A short, round boy stood in the doorway.

"Um," he said, gesturing at the seat opposite Remus. "Can...?"

"Oh, of course!" Lupin said. "Have a seat."

The boy perched on the edge of the seat and looked around the carriage, avoiding eye contact as hard as possible. He finally plucked up the courage and mumbled "been here before?"

Remus shook his head. "No, it's my first year."

The boy sighed and relaxed into his seat. He seemed to be glad of the company and someone to speak to. "My name's Peter, by the way. Peter Pettigrew."

Remus smiled. Meeting people wasn't so difficult after all. "Remus Lupin," he said.

---

Sirius stopped by a window and raked his long hair out of his eyes. It was embarrassing, being the first one to go to Hogwarts. Regulus was smirking at him this morning, little git. Just because he was nervous. Wait until it was his first day at school. He wouldn't be getting any help from Sirius Black, no way. Still, it was quite daunting. But he was determined to succeed. And without the help of the slow-witted morons his parents had grouped him with at the start of the day. Now he'd escaped them. He set off and abruptly walked into another boy, with bright blue eyes and messy hair. The boy rubbed his arm and looked wounded. Sirius sighed.

"Sorry," he said, shrugging.

James looked up and smiled. "It's ok," he said. "Didn't hurt that much anyway. So, were you...er, heading somewhere?"

"Not really. All the carriages are full. I've been wandering around for the past half hour."

James nodded. "Same here."

---

"I still think my parent's were shocked!" Peter said, smiling widely. He had warmed up a lot more and was now sitting in his seat with his legs crossed. "I never was that good at magic."

"Not as shocked as mine," Remus stated. "They're both Muggles." He was enjoying himself. It was such a relief to get on with someone. His confidence swelled inside him and he smiled. "I hardly know anything about Hogwarts. What's it like?"

---

Sirius and James were still laughing. They had just opened a compartment door to find a fifth year and his girlfriend kissing in the privacy of their own seats. The look on both faces as two first years gaped at them was priceless and the two boys had simply ran away, laughing loudly. They came to a stop against the windows of another compartment. Sirius was enjoying the company of his new companion. They were getting on like a house on fire and just as dangerously, it seemed. James nudged him in the ribs and he stopped laughing long enough to see what James was pointing at.

"Do you think they'll let us in?" he asked.

"They look just as clueless as you, they're probably first years. I don't see why they shouldn't," James replied.

"I'll ignore that clueless remark. Just watch out, Potter." Sirius knocked on the door.

---

The sharp rap turned both heads in the carriage. Remus gestured and the long-haired boy pulled the door open. His friend stuck his head in.

"Do you mind if we join you?" he asked.

"Yeah," said the taller one, "we've been all over the train and everywhere's full or, um, occupied." His friend started giggling behind him.

Remus and Peter shared a glance. Then, as Peter seemed to be captivated and nervous again, he spoke up.

"Come in. I'm Remus." He gave Peter a look but he still seemed to be incapable of speech. "This is Peter. I'm sure he'll regain the power of speech some time soon."

Peter blinked and smiled. "Yeah, I...I'm Peter. Have a seat."

James and Sirius took the remaining seats, Sirius beside Remus, James opposite him. James held out a hand.

"I'm James. Nice to meet you." Remus and Peter shook his hand and then turned to his long-haired friend.

"And you are?" Remus asked.

Sirius glanced around the compartment. James seemed clever, and had the same sense of humour as he did. Remus also seemed to be witty and a nice guy, friendly and open, just the sort of person Sirius liked; and Peter, well, Peter would probably come out of himself at some point.

"Sirius Black," he said, grinning.

"Nice to meet you, Sirius."

He liked this group already.


	4. A Walk Through the Hogwarts Express

_I really don't know about the style of this but thought I'd share for opinions on it. It's a cross between my usual writing style and Paul Magrs' Fox Soames writing in his book To the Devil-A Diva! which I highly recommend. Anyway, does it work? Or not? And how's the punchline?_

* * *

One boards the train at Platform 9 and 3/4. The Hogwarts Express is a striking engine and the platform itself is bustling with students meeting and greeting after a potential summer apart. We climb the steps and seat ourselves at the very front of the train. One must wait until the train has pulled away before taking a stroll through it's numerous carriages and observing it's varied passengers.

Carriage one is full of the normal First Years, excited and babbling nervously at each other. There are a couple of concerned prefects abiding by their duties and keeping an eye on Hogwarts' youngest. The next carriage is a mixture. Mainly prefects, talking and laughing together without concern for their charges. The atmosphere becomes more relaxed as one progresses through the carriages. Second and third years sprawled out across the seats, lazily chucking food at each other; fourth years reading and chatting quietly. A normal, if cramped vision of school life and hierarchy.

In the seventh carriage along we find Hogwarts' most organised mischief makers. Taking up most of the car. Look in one compartment; James Potter is entertaining a group of young women, Lily Evans notably absent. In another, Remus Lupin is reading and occasionally flicking small balls of paper at a sleeping Pettigrew with a smile on his face. He looks as his watch and snaps his book shut as one passes. In the final carriage is Sirius Black, otherwise engaged. Make way as Lupin raps on the glass, smiling with a twinkle in his eye. Black sits up, cool and unruffled, very unlike the girl who looks up from beside him. Sixth year prefect Penny Williams, looking less than perfect as she blushes bright red and adjusts her school blouse while Remus is invited in to sit down. Suffice to say that Lupin declines the offer with raised eyebrows and simply delivers his message. Penny, still blushing, hastily gathers her robes together and leaves, ignoring Sirius' wave. Remus shakes his head and takes a seat opposite his friend, who is chuckling lightly.

"She's been writing to me all summer," he says with a wink.


	5. The Making of the Map

_20/01/05 A/N: I know they turn into a Fred-George kind of pairing (finshing each others sentences etc), but I kind of like Sirius and Remus this way. They're sort of cute. But then I'm biased. What do you think?_

* * *

Sirius ambled through the portrait-hole, tearing up a slice of bread with long fingers and placing the chunks in his mouth. He flopped down into an armchair, kicked off his shoes and swung his legs over the armrests. He finished the bread and loosened his tie before whipping a bag of sugar quills from his robes and tucking in.

"Where've you been?" James asked.

"Detention," Black stated. "Want one?" He held out the bag and James leaned forward from his chair to take one.

"Funny kind of detention."

"My favourite kind," Sirius replied.

"How's that?" James said, gesturing for another sweet.

"The kind that involves missing dinner."

James looked puzzled.

Remus looked up from his book. "Flitwick again, was it?"

Sirius nodded. "Always thinks it's a punishment. Little does he know..." Sirius explained, tapping his nose and winking at Lupin.

"...The things that we do," Remus finished. "One-eyed witch?"

"Oh, the usual," Sirius answered. "One-eyed witch, Honeydukes," he raised the bag and winked at James, "down to good old Three Broomsticks -butterbeer, you see." James looked hopeful but both Black and Lupin shook their heads.

"For the House-elves?" Remus questioned lightly.

"Got it in one," Sirius smiled, popping another sweet into his mouth.

"So you went back through the witch, down to the kitchens -"

"Butterbeer for the House-elves, food for me..."

"And back here."

"Well done, Moony," Sirius said heartily. "Either you're getting good or I'm getting predictable. Have a quill."

Remus took one. James raised his hand.

"Yes, Prongs? A question?" Sirius turned to him, eyebrows raised.

"What the hell are you two on about?"

"Straight to the point, exactly what I like!"

"But what you always fail to do, Padfoot," Remus smiled.

"Well, you know me; just can't help myself. Anyway, Moony, grab the blackboard, I feel a lesson for dear Potter is in order. Pull up a chair, James, do."

James sat up and Remus joined him, perching on the edge of his seat, notebook in hand.

"Do you remember the time, oh, two or three months ago..."

"Must have been six, Padfoot," Remus intervened.

"Six, do you really think so?"

"I do. Remember, it was before the Ravenclaw 'get-together'?"

"Ah, yes, of course. The night we found the tunnel. So," he turned back to James, "the time -six months ago- that we found the one-eyed witch statue on the ground floor?"

James nodded. He'd bumped into the statue whilst running away from the caretaker.

"Good. But do you remember the passageway we found underneath her hunchback? No? Let me jog your memory. That Ravenclaw, uh, get-together...do you remember that?

James nodded again. That was an interesting night.

"Do you remember where we got all the food and drink from?" Sirius waited, anticipating and willing the penny to drop.

"The tunnel that led to Honeydukes! Of course. I'd forgotten about it completely."

"We know," Sirius grinned. "Which is why we have come up with...Remus, would you?"

"Certainly. Now pay attention, Prongs. We haven't given Wormtail this information as yet." He opened his notebook but didn't let James look inside. "Now are you ready? Behold...the Marauder's Map!"

"A map," Sirius began, "that shows each and every secret passageway in and around Hogwarts."

"A map," Remus continued, "that not only shows the routes in an easy-to-remember format, but that shows the whereabouts of each and every teacher, student and roundabout person in the vicinity."

James gaped. "Can it be done?"

"But of course!" Sirius grinned with a flourish. "You forget, we have the scholar extraodinaire; Moony!"

Remus bowed graciously and resumed his seat. Sirius jumped up, discarded his sweets and with a swish joined James; seating himself on the other arm of the chair.

"What do you think?"

"Are you in?"

"Moony..."

"Padfoot..."

"Prongs, if you decide to accept our offer," Sirius pointed out.

"And Wormtail, once he knows," Remus shrugged. "What do you say? I'll do the research; enchanting the parchment etcetera...we need you to help test it..."

"...discover the pathways..."

"...and generally help out."

"We can't do it alone." Sirius sat back. "Imagine, we'd go down in history."

Remus leaned forward. "Are you in?"

James nodded. "Of course I'm in!"

The two young men leapt up and towards the portrait hole.

"That calls for a celebration! The Marauder's Map is born. Three Broomsticks, Sirius?"

"Hogsmeade it is! Come along, Prongs!"

And James followed.


	6. Experience and Embarassment

_17.6.05_

* * *

"But she's going out with that Ravenclaw, what's his name? Jonas? Finch. That's the one. Finch. He's huge."

"Yeah, but he's a loser. She'd be much better off with you, Prongs."

"Well, I know _that_, Padfoot. It's just that, there are, you know...rules...with this kind of thing. Aren't there?"

Remus glanced at Sirius to see how he would respond. "He might have a point there, Padfoot."

Sirius waved his hands dismissively. "Well, rules were made to be broken, weren't they?"

"Is that what your mother taught you, Sirius?" James joked. Remus and Peter shot him a Look and the smile quickly disappeared from his face.

"My 'mother'," Sirius replied, "taught me that anyone other than a Pureblood was filth and I had no right to associate with anyone that she didn't approve of." The hardness left his expression as he nudged James in the ribs and tweaked Peter's nose. "And that, my friends, means you lot." He winked. His friends let out the breath they had been holding. "But did I listen to the woman? No. Here I am, breaking the rules. So yes, you might say that my mother did teach me that, Prongs. And it's the only good thing she did," he muttered.

Remus took it upon himself to lighten the mood. "So, presuming you can get within a ten foot radius of Lily and her troll-like boyfriend, what _are_ you going to do?"

Groaning, James buried his face in his hands. Sirius kicked Remus lightly on the shin.

"Now what did you have to go and say that for? Eh? Leave romantic matters to me."

"Because you're just a wealth of knowledge, right, Padfoot?"

"Indeed, Wormtail, I am. And please note that sarcasm will not be taken kindly. Especially from you, unskilled as you are in the ways of love."

"Oh, but he isn't!" Remus butted in with a grin. "Are you, Peter?"

Pettigrew stuttered and shrank in his chair. Sirius gaped and drew closer. Even James had crawled out of his self-pitying reverie and was winking at the blushing young man. Remus sank comfortably into his chair and folded his arms behind his head, a self-satisfied smile coolly covering his face.

"Come on, now, Wormtail, do tell about the lucky lady."

"Where did you meet? Potions? The library? The dungeons? Did you sweep her off her feet?"

"Peter?" Remus nudged lightly. "Aren't you going to tell? Perhaps James could do with the advice."

James shot Lupin a glare before returning his astonished gaze to Pettigrew, now sinking lower and lower into the armchair. He covered his face with a cushion and mumbled something unintelligable.

"What was that, Pete?" James smiled. "The Giant Squid?"

"Nooooooo," Peter gave out a muffled groan. "Leave me alone."

Sirius turned. "Moony? Enlighten us?"

"With pleasure... well -"

"Don't! If you do I'll tell them about..." Peter mouthed a name at Lupin. "You know..."

Remus blanched suddenly.

Sirius rubbed his hands together. "Oh, I do like this," he said. "Scandal, eh, Prongs!"

"Talking of Prongs," Remus managed through gritted teeth. His voice seemed to be breaking somewhat. "Weren't we talking about Evans?"

"Oh yes, but Lily can wait!"

James opened his mouth to protest but Sirius kicked him sharply. James winked. "Oh, yes. Evans can wait. This is far better. Wormtail and Moony...who knew, lads, who knew?"

During this quick exchange Lupin and Pettigrew had been mouthing threats at each other violently. Peter was rising out of his cushioney hideout, smiling wider as Remus squirmed. Remus drew his finger across his throat sharply and then pointed at Pettigrew, narrowing his eyes. Peter pursed his lips in return, mimicking kisses. James and Sirius looked on, amazed. Remus folded his arms and glared. Peter smiled. Remus turned away for a second.

"Peter fancies a teacher," he said suddenly. James and Sirius burst out laughing. Pettigrew turned a dangerous shade of pink.

"Remus is going out with a Ravenclaw!" Peter retorted desperately.

"Peter's given her a nickname!"

"Remus sits next to her in..." he paused for dramatic effect "Charms!" James let out a screech. Remus' eyes narrowed.

"Peter mumbles her name when he's sleeping," he said in a low voice.

"Remus sneaked out of the castle to meet her and kiss!"

"Peter writes her love poems! They're under his bed!"

"I caught them together only last week! She plays for the Quidditch team and they sneak into the changing rooms together!"

Remus glared at Peter pointedly, drawing himself up fully in his chair. "Her name is..."

"Jennifer Henson!"

"Professor Jillis. Or should I say 'Love-Pigeon'!"

Peter gasped and faltered. Remus smiled viciously and turned away. Peter hid beneath his cushion once more. James and Sirius broke the tense silence by laughing uncontrollably. Tears were running down Sirius' face and James slipped out of his chair.

"Funny, you two?" Remus snapped. "Can we get back to the point now?"

"And that was?" Sirius asked between shouts of laughter.

"Lily Evans," Remus stated.

James stopped laughing and climbed back into his seat. "He's got a point, Padfoot. What am I going to do? She can't stand me. She'd probably prefer Remus."

"And why wouldn't she; he's a fine stallion of a man!" Sirius giggled, punching Remus on the shoulder.

"Don't make me hex you," Lupin threatened.

Sirius breathed and put on a straight face. "Alright, alright, we'll discuss your little Chaser later, Moony. And as for Love-Pigeon...Peter, I am truly disgusted. But, yes, Prongs and Evans. Just...kiss her."

"That's it? That's all you can come up with? And what about Finch? He's a giant, for God's sake!"

"Well, it's always worked for me," Sirius shrugged. "And Moony too, apparently. You old fox, you."

Remus pulled out his wand. "I warned you, Padfoot." Peter sniggered. "Shut it, Love-Pigeon." Peter was suddenly quiet. "Why don't you just talk to her? Finch can't mind her having a friend. Besides, he won't be able to see you; you're so small...alright, alright, not helping. But I've got a point, haven't I?"

"You know, he might, Prongs," Sirius nodded.

"So if I just talk to her..."

"...you can win her over with your manly charms at a later date."

"Just plant a few thoughts in her head about what an imbecile Finch is," Peter added. "You'll be away."

"She'll be yours in no time," Remus smiled.

"And then you can double date!" Sirius grinned. "Remus and Jenny-Wenny. Potter and dear Lily. Bless. So, explain, Moony, Wormtail; how this incredible turn of events took place."


End file.
